BJ Bland and Dan Hooker will fight for the PFL and UFC respectively next weekend. Photo / Instagram
Christopher Reive looks at five storylines from the world of combat sports.
BJ Bland knows how pressure can impact performance. The lightweight mixed martial artist is among the country's best and most established talents not signed to a major promotion.
A stalwart of Auckland's City Kickboxing gym, UFC star Dan Hooker refers to him as "hands down my best training partner, and just the bane of my existence". He gets his chance to perform on a big stage next weekend on the Professional Fighters League's Challenger Series.
It's a weird situation for Bland. He had signed on to compete in the PFL US$1m tournament in 2020, but Covid-19 took that opportunity out of his grasp. Now, he has to fight to earn the spot. The Challenger Series pits eight fighters against each other in a bid to pick up a full-season contract.
Each athlete has a fight, and the four winners are then considered for the contract. But for Bland, he isn't dwelling on what could have been and is simply embracing the process.
With a wife and son living back in his hometown of Stratford, Taranaki, he admits he's at the back end of his career and is looking to the next phase of his life – and it's just made him hungrier for this opportunity.
He says it is a freeing position to be in; no longer putting pressure on himself and just making sure he enjoys himself – admitting he learned the hard way just what trying too hard can do inside the cage, putting his back-to-back losses in 2018 down to heaping pressure on himself. And you know what they say – a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.
Bland (16-10) will fight Bosnian Damir Ferhatbegovic (5-2-1) in the Challenger Series, which takes place in Orlando next Saturday.
Speaking of the PFL Challenger Series, Michelle Montague got her professional career off to a phenomenal start last week in her bout in the women's lightweight division, submitting American Olivia Parker in the first round.
It was a dominant performance from Montague, who showed poise and composure in her professional debut against a fighter whose last opponent was against former UFC bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano.
Despite scoring a first-round finish, Montague was overlooked when it came to awarding the contract, with Czech fighter Martina Jindrova – the most experienced fighter of those fighting for a contract – getting the nod.
While not earning a spot in the US$1m tournament, Montague's time with the PFL isn't necessarily over. As I understand it, several of the fighters on the series who don't win the primary contract are to be offered development deals with the promotion once the Challenger Series comes to a close.
Montague, an impressive talent with plenty of marketability, would be a prime contender but will have to wait until next month to find out.
In the amateur realm, the Oceania team competing at the International MMA Federation Super Cup fell to a tough quarter-final loss to Ireland, dropping the tie 5-4. The Oceania team – comprised of fighters from New Zealand and Australia – were a late replacement into the competition, but didn't show it, pushing a tough Irish team.
In his return to featherweight at UFC London in a week's time, UFC star Dan Hooker flew out to England a week earlier than he generally would have for a fight week – getting accustomed to the time zone and settling in.
Hooker has never fought in the UK before, and the additional time spent on flights alone will be a new experience for him. He has been proactive in the sense of doing what he needs to in order to settle in well, including gradually changing his sleeping and eating patterns to fit with UK time over the past month.
A lot of fans have been curious as to how Hooker looks in his return to featherweight, and he has set himself up to be in the best possible condition come fight night. More on that next week, but I can say he is looking in terrific shape, and dropping the extra 10 pounds to make the featherweight limit of 145lbs (65.7kg) and how that might impact him should not worry his fans.
Every week this month, a Kiwi will be in action with a major promotion. Last weekend it was Michelle Montague with the PFL, this weekend it's Jay Jay Wilson with Bellator.
After missing weight in three of his last four fights, Wilson will make the move from featherweight to lightweight for the first time in his career to take on Russian Gadzhi Rabadanov.
Either Wilson's body couldn't handle to cut to 145lbs, or he wasn't being guided through the process correctly, but either way, moving to 155lbs was necessary after his most recent miss - weighing in at 150lbs in what was supposed to be a No 1 contender's fight against Adam Borics (who actually headlines this weekend's card).
At his best, Wilson is a proven finisher both on the feet and on the mats. Hopefully not having to cut the extra weight will see him settle in nicely at lightweight.
In the UFC, light heavyweights take the spotlight with highly ranked fighters Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev set to meet in the main event. It's a strong card, though not one with a lot of big names to please the casual fan. In saying that, one fighter everyone will be tuning in to watch is Brazilian Alex Pereira.
A striking standout, Pereira twice beat current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing – including a highlight-reel knockout in their second meeting. Pereira has been dining out on that ever since moving into the MMA realm.
He's currently 4-1 (1-0 in the UFC) and faces the highly talented Bruno Silva this weekend. Credit to Pereira for not looking for easy fights to build his name off as Silva (22-6) is a tough match up for anyone with his powerful striking (19 of his wins are via KO) and the fact he holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu just adds to the threat to Pereira – who is not a high-level grappler and lost his pro debut via submission.
If you're going to watch any fight this weekend, I'd recommend it be that one. You can catch the event on Sky Sport Now and ESPN on Sunday from 10am.
For the boxing fans, an exciting featherweight clash between Leigh Wood and Michael Conlan headlines the weekend's action - which is also being broadcast via Sky on Sky Sport Now and Sky Sport Select from 8am on Sunday.
Boxing fans are in for some entertainment with the announcement of an all-Australian bout between Michael Zerafa and Issac Hardman on April 20 in Melbourne. The bout will serve as an IBF world middleweight title eliminator. The title currently sits with Gennadiy Golovkin, but he is rumoured to vacate in order to move up and challenge Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez at super-middleweight.
Hardman holds a 12-0 record with 10 knockouts, excelling since committing himself to boxing after spending some time in the MMA scene, while Zerafa holds a 29-4 record with 18 knockouts. Both guys hit hard, throw with volume and look to end the fight early, so there's no chance the fight doesn't deliver. As a bonus, they can both talk, so the build-up should be just as fun.
Usyk won the fight by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 116-112.